2 Mercenary Groups remaining...though I may add an additional one to balance the scales (currently there are 40 Dark Mercenaries and 39 Light). This might be achieved by simply re-allocating some Modu and Alos ships...unless another mod is found in the meantime...!

2 complex weeks, or two standard weeks
Nice work—this mod is shaping up very impressively._________________I'll have a Neutron Blaster please...
...No Neutron Blasters...
In that case I'll have a glove...

Last edited by ALC on Sun Aug 28, 2016 11:33 pm; edited 1 time in total

I have questions since I am at a point where I am able to change a few things...

Originally I had decided to make all mercenary groups mutually exclusive, but there is a small voice in the back of my head that is suggesting the likely consequence of this is some groups never seeing the light of day. Currently to try all Alliance/Merc/Trade Group combinations a player would need to play 10,241 times...

Now that type of spectacular unique playing index has its advantages, but I am wondering if players would prefer instead a more flexible landscape.

For example, I could merely provide the option of building the appropriate mercenary bases rather than making this a research item to gain access, but limit the player to only having 1, or 2, or 3, or unlimited bases? The number could depend on the user's unit-cap setting.

In such a way a player could theoretically destroy a given base in order to access another (if playing with low unit caps).

The possible consequence to this is a wider field of play with a lesser need to fully balance each and every race/group as their inherent pros and cons are already built-in.

This might provide for a greater sense of control and reduce the potential of a player regretting his/her initial choices and thereby feeling they have wasted a playing session. Further, it might allow for a bit more risk in terms of choosing a given race that otherwise might not be chosen for fear of the above...or it might allow a player to use a given mercenary group for the beginning of the game due to lower building costs, but then upgrade to a more advanced group later on.

There are currently groups with only a handful of ship designs versus others that have almost 10 times as many so a desire for change might be optimal in some cases...

Yet there is a potentially negative consequence to this as well.

One of the aspects that Complex has admirably accomplished is the use of crew to attempt to offset a player's natural tendency to simply build large ships early on. Crew allows for a great degree of strategic play and are naturally limiting. This is why I initially restricted Alliances and Mercenaries in such a way as to prevent the player from ignoring all of the original units in favor of what might otherwise be considered a nearly unlimited supply of ships (currently ~2100 models). This is something I do not want as I feel it might put too much pressure on players to simply build as many ships as possible in a constant race to keep up with their opponents. Limitations in crew and race access greatly reduce this pressure.

So a balance clearly must be struck between access and limits, but as every player is different, and I have only limited time, I would like to attempt to resolve this issue to everyone's satisfaction as neatly as possible.

I have opted to arrange the various allies/mercenaries/trade groups as follows:

There is a basic research tree to elect to align with either light or darkness.

The path chosen restricts access to light or dark allies.

Each ally costs a different amount based upon their quantity and quality of ships.

Each ally a player aligns with brings access to their group of 9 mercenaries. Each one of these costs a different amount (again based on ship access and strength).

Each mercenary or ally needs a special base and/or transport ship in order to build. And a player can only have so many of these at a time.

So while a player can now theoretically research access to all allies and all mercenaries in their alignment (albeit at a fair cost), they can only truly access a few at a time and an enemy can always destroy their source of these ships. So in this way there is some flexibility and balance all at once.

Currently I am still refining the weapons and attack orders. This has taken some additional time as I discovered some flaws in my initial formulas and had to essentially start over.

Hopefully everyone is enjoying the patched Remastered edition and no one is waiting in any great anticipation for this work in progress.

... and no one is waiting in any great anticipation for this work in progress.

Well, now that you mention it...
No worries, it'll be done when it's done. We shall wait._________________I'll have a Neutron Blaster please...
...No Neutron Blasters...
In that case I'll have a glove...

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